


Complicated

by orkestrations



Series: Gender is Hard 'verse [30]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abuse, Autistic Logic | Logan Sanders, Child Abuse, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Nonbinary Logic | Logan Sanders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:07:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21829486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orkestrations/pseuds/orkestrations
Summary: September tells her friends a little bit about her family, and Logan asks for advice.
Relationships: Logic | Logan Sanders & Original Character(s), Logic | Logan Sanders & September
Series: Gender is Hard 'verse [30]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/938943
Comments: 20
Kudos: 61





	Complicated

**Author's Note:**

> Pronouns:  
> Logan, xe/xir
> 
> There is no explicit abuse. It is merely talked about.

“So it’s settled then,” Christine said. She was standing at the front of Mr. O’Mara’s room with a purple dry-erase marker in her hand. Her own neat, loopy handwriting covered the whiteboard in that same purple. “Logan, Hollyn, Renee, Roman, and I are going to be interviewed face-to-face while a Google form is posted in the Discord for people to fill out so I can send it to Ms. Turner.”

There was general agreement from the room full of teenagers. Mr. O’Mara was sitting at his desk in the corner, working on his computer, pretending he couldn’t hear a damn thing they were saying. Plausible deniability, you know how it goes.

The teenagers in the room consisted of the major founding members of Generation Rebellion, plus a few new additions, including but not limited to Fiore, Piper, fellow cast members of Roman’s Charli Smythe and Zeke Hale, and Johanna Greene, who Christine had introduced as a fellow band nerd.

Honestly, every time Logan looked around the room, or at the member list in the Discord, xe felt a little thrill of excitement. Xe had helped to start this. If it hadn’t been for xir actions, maybe this would never have happened.

“I’ll talk to my aunt and let her know so that we can start scheduling. I know things are about to get super busy for everyone involved in Oresteia so I’ll talk to her about maybe scheduling something during lunchtime,” Hollyn said.

“That sounds good to me,” Christine said, picking up an eraser and methodically ridding the board of all her writing. “It’s almost time to go to first period. I’ll see most of you at lunch?”

Most of the group gave affirmatives. Notable exceptions included Logan, September, Renee, and Hollyn who had talked in the groupchat the night before and decided to go eat outside under a tree, weather permitting.

Weather did permit, and lunchtime rolled around to see the four of them taking the lunches they’d brought from home outside, where Hollyn laid out a blanket on the ground so they could have a proper picnic.

“September, you look really tired,” Renee said as she sat down cross-legged and unzipped her lunchbox. “Are you doing okay?”

September sighed and pulled her knees close to her chest, resting her chin on them.

“Not really,” she replied, her voice cracking.

“Would you… like to tell us why?” Logan asked, taking a bite of one of xir carrot sticks.

September was quiet for a few moments, her fingers tapping out a rhythm on her shin. “I guess… all this ‘aunts are great’ memeing is getting to me. My aunt’s a fucking bitch and I hate her.”

“That’s fair,” Renee replied. “We all have family members we hate.”

“No, you don’t _get_ it,” September snapped, shaking her head. “My aunt is a terrible person, and when she finally gets caught she’s going to drag my mom down with her because for whatever reason, my mom would do _anything_ for her _precious_ older sister.”

The group is quiet for a few moments, interrupted only by the crunching of Logan’s carrots.

“And are you… living with her right now?” Hollyn asked, stirring the soup in her thermos just for something to do with her hands.

September snorted. “No, thank God. Although we might as well be, with how often my mom spends over there. No, she doesn’t need _another_ kid to abuse.”

“Wait, _what_?” Renee snapped, flinching back. “ _Abuse_?” Her eyes were wide as she looked at September.

“Yeah!” September said, looking up and raising her eyebrows, giving them the slightly deranged version of the ‘no shit’ look. “My mom’s a fucking abuse enabler!”

Logan took another bite of carrot as Hollyn spoke.

“Have you… reported it?” she asked. “How long has it been happening?”

“ _Yeah_ I’ve reported it. Hard to get anything done when she’s pretty and white and very good at hiding it and my cousins are so fucking hardcore _brainwashed_ by her that they don’t realize that they’re being _abused_.” September rolled her eyes, the motion accompanied by a growl low in her throat. “And it’s been going on for _ages_. Longer than I’ve been alive, at least.”

“Jeeze,” Hollyn said, looking stricken.

“That’s an understatement,” Renee added.

Logan took another bite of xir carrot, and September whipped around to glare at xir.

“Okay, Logan, I’m sorry, I love the carrot ASMR, but it’s _really_ starting to irritate me.”

Logan opened xir mouth to snap back before xir brain caught up and xe closed it. Xe nodded and set the carrots down, opting to eat the less-loud roast beef sandwich. September, being under a lot of stress, was probably being worn quite thin, and perhaps, similar to xir, was probably struggling with weird sensory sensitivities that maybe she wasn’t as familiar with as xe was.

“Is there anything we can do?” Renee asked. Her voice was soft, concerned.

September shook her head. Her long hair had fallen over her face.

“Not unless we convince one of the cousins to report it and testify, or the youngest one’s teacher actually notices something,” September said. “I mean, maybe, if… No.” She shook her head. “He’s long fucking gone. Nevermind.”

Logan refrained from asking who the ‘he’ she was referring to was. Xe got the feeling that might be too much, or be insensitive, and that was supported by the fact that neither Hollyn nor Renee asked, either.

After that impressively depressing opener, the rest of their lunch passed in a subdued manner, until the bell rang and they had to pack up and go to class, that information hanging over Renee, Hollyn, and Logan.

“Lo-bear!” Evan said, knocking on Logan’s door. “Do you want to come help me make dinner tonight?”

Logan looked up from xir laptop and frowned. On the one hand, xe was in the middle of a conversation with Christine, Hollyn, Renee, and Roman about what sort of answers they’d want to give Ms. Turner, not to mention working on xir pre-calc homework. On the other hand, cooking dinner with xir dad would be a good way to relax and take a break from the stress of school and activism.

“Yes,” xe replied. “Let me just tell everyone where I’m going.”

“Sure thing!” Evan replied, and Logan heard him walk away as xe typed out a message to the chat.

Evan was waiting for xir in the kitchen. He was in the process of getting out the ingredients for dinner and the skillet already sitting on the stove.

“What _is_ for dinner tonight?” Logan asked as xe washed xir hands. There were two hand soap dispensers by the sink, one with the honey scent Evan preferred, and one with the sage and mint scent Maria and Logan shared.

“Spaghetti!” Evan said, setting the packet of ground beef on the counter. “Your mom has been dropping hints lately that she’s wanting lasagna, so we’ll use the leftover sauce for that.”

Logan hummed in acknowledgement. Xe personally didn’t like lasagna that much, so xe’d probably just end up getting spaghetti again or something, but xe could appreciate how much everyone else liked xir dad’s lasagna.

“Can you open the tomato paste cans?” Evan asked, and Logan nodded, opening the odds and ends drawer and pulling out the can opener. The two little tomato paste cans were already out, so xe set the can opener on them and went to work.

Evan’s favorite jazz station was playing on the radio as they worked, quietly enough that they could talk over it without having to really compete with it for attention.

So talking over it was exactly what Logan did.

“I know you’re a mandatory reporter,” xe said. “Have you ever had to? Report? For one of your students?”

Evan didn’t reply for several moments as Logan popped the lid off the first can and tossed it in the trash.

“Yes,” he eventually said. “I have. Why do you ask?”

The repetitive motion of the can opener was close enough to one of Logan’s usual stims that using it wasn’t a distraction from xir thought.

“So I have a friend,” xe said. “They’re not the one being abused, directly, but their cousins are. They’ve said that their parent is an enabler of this abuse, and that the abuse has been reported before but nothing has been done about it. Is there… anything I can do?”

Evan sighed, hard. “That is one hell of a situation you’ve got on your hands there, Logan.” He set down the spatula he was using to stir the browning meat in the skillet. “The biggest thing you can do, as yourself, is be there for them. How old are their cousins? Are they close to ageing out?”

Logan frowned, thinking hard. “I… think, from context clues, one of them already is and is long-gone. Two of them are freshmen at our school, and then there’s one still in grade school.”

“So that’s a no, then,” Evan said. He shook his head as he braced his hands on the counter, leaning over it. “Honestly, every situation is different. If I can help, I will do everything in my power to do so. It can be hard for kids to come forward again after being failed once. Would there be any chance of getting in contact with the adult cousin?”

Logan shrugged. “Doubtful. He could also be dead, from the way that he was being talked about.”

“Wouldn’t that be just _great_ ,” Evan groaned. He shook his head and stood up straight. “I don’t see much that I can do without a name, and I feel like you’re not going to just… tell me which friend this is.”

Logan shook xir head. “I don’t want to betray their confidences. Besides, what if it gets reported and it goes nowhere again and it just makes everything worse? I know that happens a lot, it happened to… to one of my online friends, and I don’t want that to happen to—to them.”

“I understand.” Evan sighed. “Just… talk to them. Maybe it’ll go better the second time. Can I hug you?”

Logan nodded, and Evan stepped towards xir, arms open. Logan took the last couple of steps, letting xir dad wrap xir up in his arms.

**Author's Note:**

> Hugs are the best way to end a chapter/installment and no i will not take criticism about that  
> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please leave a kudos. If you want to, leave a comment letting me know what you thought! I enjoy hearing from my readers, and constructive criticism is welcome.  
> With love,  
> Kestrel Daniel  
> (he/him, they/them, fae/faer)  
> Catch me on tumblr [@orkestrations](https://orkestrations.tumblr.com/)


End file.
